Found a great deal from a cool guy in Knoxville. Long drive but well worth it! I recently got the G2/G1 combo, and played the kit out for the first time on Saturday, April 4th. It sounded amazing to say the least. There were four bands, and the first band's drummer was very late (but we knew this was going to happen). I called him and told him he could play my kit if he wanted, and when he got there, I think he was pleasantly surprised. He complemented it after we both played, so I was even happier. I'll post pics of the actual show later.

Found a great deal from a cool guy in Knoxville. Long drive but well worth it! I recently got the G2/G1 combo, and played the kit out for the first time on Saturday, April 4th. It sounded amazing to say the least. There were four bands, and the first band's drummer was very late (but we knew this was going to happen). I called him and told him he could play my kit if he wanted, and when he got there, I think he was pleasantly surprised. He complemented it after we both played, so I was even happier. I'll post pics of the actual show later.

i'm playing around with the tom/cymbal set up. I usually play with a 12x8 tom so this drum has a bit of a jump up than what i'm used to and the die cast rims are taller than rolled rims. I would like the crash a little closer too but i'm still trying to figure it out.

I think i'm going to buy a dw 9999 double tom/cymbal stand which should move the crash cymbal closer.

I might put up either a 16" a custom projection crash on the right, or put up a 20" a custom ride on the right.

but as you can tell I like a simple set up and I don't want to add too much extra crap to my hardware case. It's already packed to the gills and weights a ton.

Your Kit is very nice, too. On your photos the finish looks better than on my ones...
I've got a little Update: I purchased a DW 5500 Hi Hat matching to my double pedal.
my pedals cost almost as much as my kit^^
whatever it works very well. i hope i can report about new cymbals very soon. my present ones are very crappy.....

Here is my setup:
4 piece Gretsch catalina club mod with a pork pie little squealer snare, DW pedal and Zildjian ZBT cymbals. Got a great deal on craigslist for the whole setup. The next day, I was able to sell my nighthawk for what I was asking for it easily.

The G1's are deffinately the way to go on this kit imo. I took them off for some ec2's the first week I had them, but ended up putting the G1's back on. I guess gretsch knew what they were doing, this kit sounds best with no muffling. I had to tame the floor tom down a little with a cut down e-ring though.

There were barely any stick marks on the heads and the stickers were still on the cymbals. *one* little ding in the bass drum's finish from a rack tom being too close. Sounds fantastic after tuning it. I'm a bit overprotective of my drums now....the finish is nice, and I intend to keep it that way.....even if it means using a microphone stand as a lance to keep bar patrons away at shows.

There were barely any stick marks on the heads and the stickers were still on the cymbals. *one* little ding in the bass drum's finish from a rack tom being too close. Sounds fantastic after tuning it. I'm a bit overprotective of my drums now....the finish is nice, and I intend to keep it that way.....even if it means using a microphone stand as a lance to keep bar patrons away at shows.

Nice kit dude! Love the finish too...!
There is (maybe was) a kit like this at a local music go round that I was eyeballing..
Gretsch FTW!

Nice kit dude! Love the finish too...!
There is (maybe was) a kit like this at a local music go round that I was eyeballing..
Gretsch FTW!

Thanks. I wasn't really sure if I'd want a birch kit...but after tuning the rack toms while looking it over, I was sold. I'm very happy with how they sound. I've got to get cymbals though....it came with ZBT's.